Peeking In

Reblogging for commentary that is truer-than-true.

areasofmyexpertise:

Ruben Bolling asks you to support TOM THE DANCING BUG by joining the Inner Hive for 20 bucks a year.

A YEAR.

READ HIS POST to understand.

My only argument with Ruben B. here is his apologetic tone for asking you to pay money for early access to his very good comics—that is to say, something that YOU LIKE AND WANT.

DO NOT APOLOGIZE, RUBEN, because:

While the internet DOES make it harder for talented cartoonists* to support themselves via licensing their work to traditional media distributors…

IT MAKES IT EASIER for YOU to buy work directly from the creator, and what’s more, to ENJOY the fact that almost all of the money you give them goes directly TO THE THING YOU LIKE and help it to continue to exist.

WHICH IS TO SAY: If you like a thing, supporting it financially is not an obligation. IT IS A PRIVILEGE.

For the first time in culture, we may all become patrons of the arts that we love, at a comparatively low cost to us, and at a comparatively INCREDIBLY HIGH BOON to the creator.

This new relationship is worth celebrating, and not apologizing for. It not only helps you get the thing you like into your own hands, it helps the thing you like to CONTINUE, and it ensures that your taste is reflected and relevant in the culture at large.

SO DIG DEEP, FANS OF GOOD THINGS, especially those you can pay for directly. You have nothing to lose but mediocrity.

That is all.

* (and writers, singers, comedians, filmmakers, magicians, etc.)

(Source: hodgman)